Six Little Rules
by rubycaspar
Summary: "There would have to be rules," Amy said. / Jake looked surprised for a moment, and then smirked. "Friends with benefits, Santiago-style," he teased. "Okay, hit me." / (Or, Amy and Jake sleep together and completely fail at putting it behind them.)


A/N - I've been writing this story for AGES - I started it well over a year ago, and I'm so glad to finally be posting it. It's going to be in three parts, and the plan is to get it finished before the next episode airs. But it's a bit of a whopper so we'll see how that works out! Anyway, rated M overall but this chapter is T.

I hope you enjoy it!

**Six Little Rules – Part One (The Rules Are Made)**

She wasn't sure what it was that woke her up, but Amy kept her eyes closed. It was Saturday morning after a long week and a late Friday night, and even though she wasn't fully awake yet she could already feel the beginnings of a headache, which probably heralded a hangover. Hopefully she could just fall back to sleep and not deal with it for a while…

Then her brain started to take note of a few things. Like the fact that she could feel more of her sheets than usual… as though she wasn't wearing her pyjamas. Or the fact that she could feel something warm tickling the side of her neck… like breath. Or the fact that she could feel something resting heavily on her stomach… and it was starting to move.

_There was someone in her bed. _Amy went from semi-asleep to wide awake in about two microseconds. The man next to her seemed to wake up at the same moment - he snatched his arm back from where it had been flung across her, and Amy gasped and sat up, scrabbling to grab hold of the sheet and pull it up to cover her naked torso. She stared at him, her heart racing and a blush covering what felt like her entire body.

It was rare that Amy Santiago was lost for words. It was practically _unheard of_ for Jake Peralta to be lost for words.

And yet here they were.

Amy's mind was racing. _What the hell had happened last night? _She remembered them all going out for drinks, and Gina dragging them to a drag show (yeah I know, don't ask), then another bar, and then it was just her and Jake left and he said he'd walk her home because the bar they'd ended up in was only a few blocks from her apartment, and then they were holding hands and then they were kissing and then…

Oh god she'd slept with Jake. She'd got drunk and _slept with Jake_.

Except she hadn't even been that drunk. She'd only had like four drinks the entire night, and she was sure Jake hadn't been drinking much either. The headache she'd thought was a hangover was more like lightheadedness from lack of sleep… so she couldn't use being drunk as an excuse.

Did she even need an excuse? Did she want one? Did she regret what had happened? Did she want to forget about it? Did she want to be with Jake now?

She didn't have any answers for herself, and from the look of panic in Jake's eyes she had a feeling he was asking himself similar questions.

_She just needed to damn well say something_.

"Um…"

_Oh yes excellent, Amy, well put. _

Jake swallowed. "Er, yeah," he said.

More silence. More staring.

Finally, Jake cleared his throat. "Um, I should go," he said.

Amy tried very hard to hide not to show the relief she felt at his words, but wasn't sure she was successful. "Oh, sure, okay," she said.

Jake nodded. She nodded back. He turned away from her to get out of the bed and Amy quickly looked away from his bare back, tucking the sheets more securely around herself and resisting the urge to throw them over her head and hide until he was gone. She listened to Jake moving around pulling on his clothes for a few moments, and just tried to take calming breaths to slow down her racing heart. Amy reached for her glasses, but decided that she was better off not seeing properly right now. (At least she'd remembered to take her contacts out before falling asleep… though she hadn't moved from her bed; so they were probably on the floor somewhere, dried out and gross.)

Jake cleared his throat again, and Amy looked up. He had his pants on, and was holding one of his shoes. Amy squinted slightly to bring him into slightly better focus.

"I… I think my shirt is in the hall, so…"

"Um, yeah," said Amy.

"Yeah."

Jake hurried out of the room, and Amy wasted no time in scrambling out of the bed and grabbing her bathrobe from her closet door. She tripped over something on the way there, so once the robe was tied firmly in place she admitted defeat and put her glasses on to look at the offending item.

It was her panties.

Amy pressed her hands to her flaming cheeks, took a deep breath, and followed Jake out into the hall. He'd put his shoes on and was just finishing buttoning his shirt. His jacket was on the floor next to the front door, and her own jacket was lying next to it. Her eyes swept the path of clothes laid out along the hallway between Jake and her - her shirt was a few feet away from the jackets, her shoes were kicked off a foot away from those… and her pants were crumpled on the ground just in front of her. Amy bent down to pick them up, her mouth going dry at the memory of Jake pushing her up against the wall to kiss her, fumbling for the clasp on her pants as she pushed his shirt down over his shoulders.

Jake scooped his jacket up, and Amy stood up quickly.

"Okay," he said. "So… see ya."

Amy nodded. "Um, yeah. Bye."

Jake nodded back, opened her door, and fled.

There was a moment's silence, and then Amy slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, buried her face in her second-best suit pants, and let out a muffled scream.

XXX

Amy spent the rest of the weekend trying not to think about it. Of course, it was a bit difficult to pretend nothing had happened as she picked up her discarded clothes, as she changed her sheets, or as she discovered three hickeys on her neck and shoulder after showering.

She kept herself busy for the rest of Saturday, throwing herself into cleaning her apartment from top to bottom and doing all the other chores she could think of. She called her Mom even though her parents had just got back from vacation and she would have to spend at least an hour listening to a blow-by-blow account of the trip (in fact the call lasted almost two).

It worked until she went to bed that night, but then there was no shutting off her brain - being back at the, er, _scene of the crime_ as it were, sent her memories into overdrive. She slept badly, and woke up the next morning frustrated and exhausted.

Sunday was bad. She couldn't keep her mind off of it, no matter what she did. She even considered going into work at one point, but didn't think that sitting across from his desk was likely to help her keep her mind off Jake. Besides, what if he was _there_?

Oh god, she was so screwed. Just the thought of facing Jake gave her a minor panic attack, but it wasn't like a normal one night stand where she wouldn't have to see the guy again (not that one night stands were _normal _for Amy, and actually the one time she'd had one, in college, the guy had turned up in her Philosophy 101 lecture a week later… that had been awkward). _Anyway_… the point was she was going to have to see Jake the next morning, and that was clearly going to be an issue.

The problem was that she just didn't have a clue how she felt about the whole thing. On the one hand, she clearly had some unresolved feelings for Jake… and at some point, he'd had feelings for her too. Those feelings had clearly taken a backseat to Sophia and hadn't seemed to reemerge after their break-up, but he _had _just slept with her, so obviously he felt something for her, even if it was just attraction.

There was no point trying to work out how Jake felt about her - what she needed to figure out was what she felt about _him_. Okay, so she liked him. She did. But the thought of _dating_ him made her way more scared than excited. She'd never done the whole Friends To Lovers Thing, and they had the Working Together Thing on top of that. If it didn't work out between them the consequences could be huge… and the thought of risking it filled her with dread. It was bad enough how things had changed in the past year - between Jake's confession, his being gone for six months, Teddy, Sophia… their friendship had lost its ease. It had got a little bit better recently, but there was always an added layer of… something... these days - and it just wasn't as simple as it used to be. Amy missed their old easy friendship.

Also, there was just so much uncertainty that came with starting a relationship - they had no way of knowing if they'd be compatible romantically. Okay, so she now had pretty compelling proof that they were compatible sexually (seriously… _damn_), but god it had been _so awkward_ in the morning. Those were not the actions of two people ready to jump into a relationship.

So, that was how _she_ felt about it, but… but what if Jake didn't agree? What if he told her he still had feelings for her and wanted to date her for real? That thought filled her with the most dread of all. She would hate to hurt him like that, especially after what had happened and especially because she really _did _like him…

Damn, she really needed to speak to Jake, didn't she? She was making herself crazy going over all of this stuff alone, and no matter how many lists she made (because of course she made lists) her thoughts kept chasing each other round her head over and over. She needed to know what Jake was thinking, but she was so nervous at the thought of speaking to him… she picked up her cellphone a dozen times to call him or text him or _something_, and chickened out every time. But scared as she was of facing him again, the thought of _facing him at the precinct _in front of everyone without sorting this out first was so much worse.

By Sunday evening, Amy had worked herself up enough at the thought of an awkward Monday morning encounter that she finally got up the nerve to send Jake a text.

_Hi. Maybe we should talk before work tomorrow? _

There. That was okay, right? Vague but polite. She stared at her phone in her lap, trying to decide whether she'd prefer a text or a phone call in response, and was so lost in her inner argument that she fairly jumped out of her skin when her door intercom buzzed.

Amy gripped her phone tight in her hand and headed over to answer it.

"Hello?"

There was a moment of silence. Then… "_It's me. Jake._"

Amy froze. "...Hi," she said weakly.

There was the sound of Jake clearing his throat. He sounded nervous. "_Can I -?_"

"Oh, um, yeah. Come up." Amy pressed the button to open the door for him, and then stood rooted to the spot, trying not to panic.

Okay, so he was here. That was good - she needed to speak to him, and face to face was… well, unexpected, but probably for the best. She shook her head at his timing - she'd literally sent that text a minute ago, so he'd clearly already been on his way over… and he'd obviously reached the same conclusion as she had, that they needed to talk before going back to work.

Did that mean he'd also made the same decision about what they should do next?

Amy was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped _again_ when there was a knock at her door. She took a deep breath, smoothed her sweater down over her jeans, and opened it.

"I brought ice cream," Jake said immediately, before she could say anything to him. Amy gave him a puzzled look and stood back to let him in. Far back. Way out of accidentally brushing against each other range.

She closed the door behind him, and Jake held up a tub of rocky road. "I figured this will probably be painfully awkward and ice cream might help," he said with a smile.

Amy felt herself relax slightly at the sight of him smiling. "Painfully awkward… well, that would be an improvement on yesterday, anyway," she said.

"_Right?_" Jake exclaimed, shaking his head. "Wow that was… I'm sorry."

Amy nodded. "Me too."

"I just didn't know what to say -"

"Me neither," said Amy, managing a smile of her own. "It's okay."

The conversation so far was actually pretty painless, and Amy was grateful. She headed into the kitchen to get a couple of bowls and spoons, before leading the way over to her sofa. She sat down at one end, and busied herself with opening the ice cream while Jake took off his jacket, draped it over the back of the sofa, and sat down at the other end. (She was definitely _not_ thinking about where his jacket had ended up the last time he was here. Nope.)

Amy spooned out some ice cream into one of the bowls and was about to hand it to Jake, but he just grabbed the other spoon and dug straight into the tub. Amy let out an exasperated sigh and sat back with the bowl of ice cream for herself instead.

"So I got your text basically as I reached your building," Jake said through a mouthful of rocky road.

Amy smiled tightly. "Yeah… I just thought we should talk about it before…"

Jake nodded. "Well, I agree. Obviously." He took some more ice cream, and Amy kept a close eye on the spoon for drips before it got to Jake's mouth, and then she quickly looked away.

"So… do you wanna start?" Jake asked her.

She really didn't, but he clearly didn't either otherwise he would have just jumped in. Well, someone had to get this show on the road.

Amy nodded. "Sure." She put down her bowl on the coffee table and picked up the legal pad she'd made her lists in.

"You made a list, didn't you?"

Amy pursed her lips and nodded, bracing herself to be made fun of. Sure enough, Jake started laughing, but he had this stupid fond smile on his face that made Amy pause, and then he shook his head and said: "I _really_ like you."

Amy froze, but even as her mind raced through all the reasons she wanted Jake _not _to feel that way, she couldn't help but feel warmed by that look he was giving her… he wasn't holding anything back right then, she could _see _his feelings for her on his face, and it was hard not to respond to that.

Jake shook his head again. "Okay, I guess I'm starting," he said ruefully. He stuck the spoon in the ice cream tub before turning back to her. "I do really like you. A lot. I have for a long time."

Amy gave him a small smile, and Jake returned it before continuing. "And though yesterday morning was... terrible... I had a lot of fun on hanging out on Friday and… after."

Amy immediately went red, and Jake smiled again but didn't comment on it. He looked away for a moment, and when he looked back his smile was gone, and he looked at her seriously for a moment before speaking again. "But I don't think we should… date."

Amy let out the breath she was holding in a huge sigh of relief, something that Jake couldn't exactly miss.

"_Wow_," he said drily. Amy quickly looked back at him, ready to apologise, but he looked amused and just quirked an eyebrow at her. "I'm guessing your list agrees with me?"

Amy huffed a laugh, and tossed the pad back down onto the table without opening it. "I really like you too," she said, "but… I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this - us."

Jake nodded, and Amy took a deep breath before carrying on. "The thing is, I've really missed you this past year."

Jake looked confused at that, and Amy rushed to explain. "Well first you were undercover, obviously, but even since you've been back it hasn't been the same between us… with everything that was said and everything that happened I feel like we're not as… well, close as we used to be and... I miss having you as a friend."

Amy fully expected Jake to laugh again and then make a joke at her expense - she could practically hear him quipping _"well Santiago I didn't know you cared so much"_ and she was ready for that - but instead, he sort of _winced_, and then nodded.

"Yeah I… I actually know exactly what you mean," he said. He sighed. "I miss you too. You're my friend above anything else, and I wouldn't want to lose that, if it all goes wrong."

"Yes! Exactly," Amy exclaimed. She was so relieved - _he got it_. Thank god.

"Besides," said Jake seriously, "if we started going out, there would be paperwork involved, and _that _is where I draw the line…"

Amy grinned.

"Also…" Jake squirmed uncomfortably before ploughing on. "I'm still not over what happened with Sophia," he said quickly. "I mean, not her as a person exactly, but just… getting my head round how it all went so wrong so quickly, you know?"

Amy bit her tongue to stop herself telling him he'd done _nothing _wrong with Sophia (seriously, she could just slap her for messing him up so bad), and just nodded sympathetically instead.

Jake shrugged. "I'm not in a good place for a relationship right now," he said. He smiled at her. "And you _definitely_ deserve better than that."

Amy smiled back at him for a few moments before ducking her head. It was probably the most heartfelt conversation the two of them had ever had, and given the way they'd been acting around each other the last few months, it was a little overwhelming.

Jake cleared his throat. "So… friends?"

Amy looked back up at him - he quirked an eyebrow at her, and she grinned. "Always," she said. "And no more being weird around each other."

Jake gave her a wide smile and reached for his ice cream spoon. "Deal."

XXXXX

It should have been simple after that. Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

The week started off fine. Amy had been worried that the rest of the team had somehow found out what happened on Friday - either through reading something in her body language or from Jake straight up telling someone (Boyle)... but they clearly didn't have a clue. Jake seemed to be really making an effort to talk to her and tease her like normal and she found herself responding, slipping into their usual patterns of banter like nothing had happened.

It was familiar, it was fun, and it was all working fine until they found themselves alone with each other at the bar on Friday night again.

They'd been laughing about an interview Jake had conducted the day before with a Swedish tourist, and then Rosa had left to meet Marcus and suddenly it was just the two of them.

There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Jake downed the rest of his beer. "One more for the road?" He asked.

Amy nodded. "Sure, why not?"

_Why not? How about the last time you two were alone together in a bar, you ended up sleeping together? How about that? _

They both headed over to the bar which, it being a Friday night, was pretty crowded. Amy tried to think of something to say as they stood waiting for the bartender to get to them, but all topics of conversation seemed to have failed her. This was ridiculous - they'd been talking and joking together literally two minutes before.

It was just the fact that this was basically _exactly _what had happened the Friday before. They'd been talking and joking around, then the last person (Gina) had left, they'd gone to the bar to get another drink and had been pressed up against each other which had completely erased the concept of _personal space _for the remainder of their time in the bar, and the walk back to Amy's apartment and… well, you know what had happened next.

At least they weren't so squashed together this time. Amy could deal with brushing her arm against Jake's, and she could definitely deal with having one more drink before heading home. _Alone_. She had to be able to deal with it - that's the whole point of their new… understanding. They had to get okay with being around each other again.

So this was fine.

Jake chose that moment to start talking about his Swedish tourist again, and Amy jumped gratefully into the conversation.

See? Totally fine.

And then, just when she'd started to relax, a couple of girls tried to squeeze up to the bar behind Amy, and she stumbled forward towards Jake. They'd turned to face each other as they talked, and so she found herself pressed up against his front with her hands against his chest, and one of his hands on her waist to help her regain her balance.

Balance regained, she looked up to find Jake's face barely inches away from hers. His eyes were wide and staring at her, and being as close as they were she didn't miss it when they darted down to look at her mouth. Amy bit her lip, and Jake visibly swallowed. Then his fingers tightened on her waist and he started to dip his head.

It felt like she'd had some kind of weird outer body experience or something, because all of a sudden Amy realised what was happening and everything around her got louder and came into sharper focus. She snatched her hands back like she'd been burned, and Jake quickly dropped his own hands and stood up straight.

"Um, you know what, I think I might just take off," Amy stammered.

Jake nodded, not quite making eye contact with her. "Sure, yeah, okay," he said. "It's late, work tomorrow and everything."

_Damnit_. They actually _did _both have work tomorrow - she'd forgotten he was down to work Saturday too. All the more reason to get the hell out before it got even more awkward.

"Right, tomorrow," she said. "See you tomorrow. Bye!" Wow, her voice had gone really high. She had to force herself not to wince.

Jake waved, and Amy turned on her heel and fled. (Though if anyone asks, she walked calmly but briskly out of the bar.)

XXXXX

Amy was worried that Saturday would be awkward, but it was the same as any other Saturday they'd worked together, so clearly that whatever-the-hell-it-was the night before was something they could just forget about. It wasn't like anything happened anyway.

It was fine.

...Until Tuesday, when it almost happened again.

It wasn't in the bar this time - it was in the observation room of all places. They and Terry were watching Rosa interrogate a perp on the other side of the glass, and Terry left the room to check on something, leaving Amy and Jake alone. It shouldn't have been a thing - it _wasn't _a thing. Well, except that they hadn't been alone since they'd almost kissed in the bar, and before that not since he'd gone to hers to discuss the fact they'd had sex the time before_ that_.

The moment the door closed behind Terry, the air seemed to thicken around the two of them, and Amy was suddenly hyper-aware of how close she was standing to Jake. They were side by side facing the glass, both with their arms folded, and even though they were separated by a few inches Amy could feel the body heat radiating from him. She wanted to move away from him, but she didn't know how she could do that without being really obvious, so she stood stock-still, trying to concentrate on Rosa's interview but actually just scolding herself for being so weird. There was nothing to be weird _about_. Nothing at all.

Rosa thumped her fist on the table in the interrogation room and both Amy and Jake jumped, which just proved how on edge they both were. They both tried to laugh it off, but their voices sounded completely fake to Amy's ears - she was sure Jake could hear it too. She was just wondering if she should just make an excuse and leave, when Jake spoke up.

"If I'm ever arrested, please don't let Rosa interrogate me," he said. "I would crack so fast it would be embarrassing."

Amy relaxed. "But wouldn't we want you to crack fast?" She asked him, playing along.

Jake gave her a mock-offended look. "You wouldn't try to help me evade justice? After all the years we've been partners? I'm hurt."

Amy smirked. "Justice can't be denied," she quipped.

Jake sighed dramatically and hung his head.

Amy grinned. "But don't worry," she said, "I'd put in a good word with the DA."

She reached up and patted his shoulder. That was a mistake. She hadn't touched Jake since the fiasco at the bar. It would have been fine, but the realisation that she was touching him when she didn't need to made her freeze, so her hand _stayed on his shoulder_. And then he looked at her. And then he reached up and covered her hand with his.

Amy took a step forward, her head tipping back and her eyes already starting to drift shut, when the sound of the door handle turning had the two of them jumping apart, and they were both back to staring at the glass, arms folded, by the time Terry walked back in… though this time they were standing much further apart.

XXX

By unspoken agreement, the two of them avoided being alone together after that. Jake was eating lunch in the break room - Amy ate at her desk. They were ready to leave at the same time - Jake 'forgot' something just before the elevator doors closed on the two of them. They were working a case and needed to stake out a pawn shop - it was decided that they definitely needed another set of eyes and Boyle should come too.

On the surface everything was fine. They were still joking with each other, teasing and bantering the same way they always had… but it was starting to feel more and more like an _act_, and it was so much worse than it had been before they slept together. There was an underlying tension now that Amy was finding more difficult to ignore with each passing day, and she didn't know what to do about it.

You know, besides the obvious.

Because yes, okay, it was _that_ kind of tension. Amy wasn't an idiot, she knew what was going on. She'd felt sexual tension with guys before - had been distracted by thoughts of kissing them in the middle of conversations or found herself staring into someone's eyes for a second too long. She'd even experienced it with Jake in the past. Quite a lot, in fact, and it hadn't been a problem. _Now_ though… well, she'd slept with Jake already, so the tension had changed. She had very vivid memories of how it had felt to be kissed by him, to be pressed up against a wall or pinned down on her bed by his body as his hands…

You see the problem. The thing was, as much as Amy wanted to move on and get back to being nothing more to Jake than a partner and friend - and she _did_ \- she also wanted to hardcore make out with him.

She didn't like to assume that Jake felt the same way but he _was _avoiding her too… and she'd seen the way he looked at her sometimes, when he thought she wasn't looking. It was the way she knew she looked at him. They clearly had a problem, anyway, and the easiest way to stop it becoming a bigger issue was to not give it air to breathe… that meant avoiding being alone.

Their avoidance tactics worked for the sum total of three days. Then the filing room happened.

It was distressingly simple, in the end. Jake had been talking to Charles about a case at his desk. Amy went to Holt's office to give him an update on a case she'd picked up that morning. When she came back to her desk Jake and Charles were nowhere to be seen, so Amy assumed Jake had gone to watch Charles' interrogation. She grabbed her filing and headed to the file room. She walked in, closed the door behind her, rounded two sets of shelves, and walked smack into Jake.

"Woah!"

"Jake! Um - sorry, I…"

"It's okay. You okay?"

"Yeah. Yes. You?"

"Fine."

"Good."

"Okay."

They were so close - too close - and completely alone. Amy's brain was screaming at her to retreat, but her feet remained rooted to the spot, and she couldn't stop herself from looking down at his lips. Oh god.

It's such a cliche to say it, but Amy really _didn't _know who moved first. She was just aware of the last vestiges of her self-control vanishing inside her, and she surged forward at seemingly the exact same moment that Jake did. Their lips crashed together and the files Amy held tumbled to the floor as her hands suddenly became otherwise occupied with gripping the back of Jake's neck and clutching at his hair

Jake wrapped his arms around Amy's back and almost lifted her off the ground in his urgency to get her backed up against one of the file racks - the hard metal shelves bit into her shoulders and lower back but Amy was far too focused on what Jake's tongue was doing in her mouth to care - she just pulled him in closer.

It felt so _good_. All the memories of their night together came flooding back to Amy, all the feelings she'd worked to suppress for two weeks, and she couldn't believe she'd deprived herself of this for a whole fortnight.

Well, it hadn't just been her - it had been Jake's decision too. And they'd had their reasons.

It was just a small voice in the back of Amy's head, but it was enough to make her loosen her grip on Jake's shoulder and slide her other hand out of his hair. She felt Jake tense in response to the sudden change in the dynamic, and the kiss slowed down and lost the intense urgency it had had just moments before. Amy frowned, still kissing him but softer now, wishing she hadn't had the presence of mind to start to pull away. She wished she could just let herself have this. But she couldn't - they couldn't - and they'd already figured out why. Amy let go of Jake and started to pull her hands back - he pulled his arms out from around her back and began to step away.

Their lips were the last part of their bodies to separate, but as soon as they did Jake backed away to the other side of the narrow aisle, until his back hit the other set of shelves. So they couldn't touch each other.

They stared at each other in silence until Amy couldn't take it anymore. She looked away, down at the floor, and shook her head at the sight of her fallen files. She crouched down and scooped them back up, all the while hyper-aware that Jake was silently watching her.

She put the files down on an empty bit of shelf, just to get them out of her shaky hands. She was so mad at herself - did she seriously not have more self control than this? Practically jumping Jake in the file room at the precinct, where anyone could walk in and see them? At least there was no security cameras in this part of the room…

Amy took a deep breath to steady herself, and looked over at Jake again. He hadn't moved; he was just looking at her expectantly, clearly waiting for her to break the silence.

"Okay…" she said shakily, once she could find her voice. "_Friends_ don't do that."

She wasn't sure if she was trying to keep it light or pick a fight... she supposed it was whatever Jake was in the mood for.

He shrugged. "Well I don't know, Charles and I -"

Clearly he was for keeping it light - and Amy immediately felt her hackles go up at the thought that he was able to make a joke out of this, even if he was just following her lead.

(Being rational wasn't her main priority right then, okay?)

Anyway, Amy would have hit him, but she didn't want to touch him again. "Jake!" she exclaimed instead, fixing him with her most vicious glare.

Jake threw his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry!" He said quickly. "Yes, I know, that was… inappropriate?"

Amy rolled her eyes at what was the understatement of the century, and in response Jake gave her an unimpressed look and folded his arms.

"Okay, but in my defence, you totally almost jumped me the other day…"

Amy's jaw dropped. "Oh my god I did _not_," she retorted.

Jake actually _raised an eyebrow at her, _and Amy felt her cheeks heating up. "Well what about last week at the bar?" She demanded. "That was all _you_."

There, that made his damn eyebrow go back down. Amy folded her own arms and gave him a defiant look. Yes, okay, so maybe she had been the one to (almost!) make the first move in the observation room, but it had _definitely_ been Jake in the bar.

Jake looked away from her for a moment, and when he looked back it was with an intensity she hadn't been expecting, and she actually felt herself _sway _towards him before she could get a grip and stand her ground. He had no right to look at her like that, it wasn't fair. She couldn't be expected to control herself around him if he… oh for heaven's sake, this was ridiculous.

Amy let out a frustrated breath. "Urgh… maybe we should just give up and date each other," she said sullenly.

Jake stood stock-still, staring at her for a moment before swallowing. "Do you want to do that?" He asked quietly.

His tone took all of the fight out of Amy - he was clearly as confused by all of this as she was. She sighed. "No," she said. "I stand by what I said before, I just… we clearly have a problem with… sexual tension."

Jake looked at her in silence for a moment before shifting on his feet. "We could just have sex again," he said.

Amy rolled her eyes. "You think second time's the charm?" She said sarcastically.

But Jake straightened up and pinned her with a serious look. "Seriously, though, it doesn't have to be a big deal," he said. "Like you said there's clearly a sexual tension thing going on, and just ignoring it isn't exactly helping us trying to be friends again."

He was right, of course - the tension wasn't helping at all. And she couldn't deny that the thought of giving in and sleeping with him again was all kinds of appealing to her… but what if it didn't work?

"And what if it doesn't work?" She voiced. "What if two weeks later we're back here again?"

Jake shrugged. "Then we have sex again."

Amy narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you… are you suggesting we become _friends with benefits_?"

Jake's eyes widened and then he looked sheepish. "I… guess I am," he said. "I mean… we stay friends, just friends. But if the tension gets too much we just…"

Amy bit her lip. She couldn't believe she was actually considering it but… well... the last two weeks had been _ridiculous_. She wanted to be friends with Jake again without any weirdness between them, but that wasn't going to happen without them doing _something_ about their sexual tension. Maybe if they could just deal with the sexual tension between them as and when it came up instead of trying to ignore it, they would be able to repair their friendship and leave the sexual tension behind.

Sure, it could all backfire horribly and make things weirder between them… but it was worth a shot, right? It wasn't like it was a permanent thing; if it made things worse, they could stop. Just as long as they both understood the arrangement...

Amy took a deep breath, her mind racing over the ins and outs (no pun intended - seriously, shut up) of what she was about to agree to. "There would have to be rules," she said.

Jake looked surprised for a moment, and then smirked. "Friends with benefits, Santiago-style," he teased. "Okay, hit me."

"Rule one - we keep it casual," Amy said. "No… no dates, or getting too serious about it. If it starts to become weird to either of us, we have to say something. No getting jealous if one of us decides to go on a date or something. We can't have this become a problem for us - it _has_ to be no strings. And we can call it off whenever we want."

"That was like five rules, but agreed."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Two - no surprise visits."

Jake gave her an incredulous look. "You want your booty calls by appointment only?"

Amy pulled a face. "Three – no calling our… whatever… _booty calls_."

Jake snorted.

"Rule four - no fooling around at work."

_Jake_ pulled a face at that one, and looked like he was about to argue, but Amy glared at him - there was no way she was going to budge on that one… it was bad enough that they wouldn't be disclosing their relationship officially like they were meant to. (Because it wasn't a relationship, that was the _point, _but still…)

The glare worked, and Jake sighed. "Fine."

Amy nodded. "Five - no staying over."

Jake smirked. "That's fine because your mattress _sucks_."

Amy folded her arms defensively. "My mattress is fine."

"It's way too hard."

"It's good for your back!"

"It's like you're a monk or something…"

"Rule six," Amy practically growled. "This is between you and me. Don't tell _anyone_."

Jake nodded. "No problem."

"No one, Jake," Amy said. "I mean it."

Jake threw up his hands. "I won't, okay?" He said. "I don't want anyone to know either - it would be too…" His voice trailed off.

Amy just nodded, and Jake nodded back.

"Is that everything?" He asked.

"I think so," Amy said. "Unless you want to add anything?"

"Rule seven - bi-monthly stripteases must include -"

Amy groaned and started to walk away. "Oh god, forget it, this was a stupid -"

Jake laughed and grabbed Amy's hand to stop her before she got too far. "Okay okay, nothing to add," he said with a grin.

Amy turned around to face him again, and found that he'd stepped up right behind her. Their hands were trapped in between their bodies, and Jake's fingers tightened around hers as she tipped her head back and met his eyes. The grin faded from his face and he swallowed.

"So, tonight?" He said, sounding a little hoarse.

Amy had to swallow herself before answering with a nod. "Tonight."

TBC…


End file.
